Uranium particle identification with SEM-EDX for isotopic analysis by secondary ion mass spectrometry

Esaka, Fumitaka  ; Magara, Masaaki  

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a promising tool to measure isotope ratios of individual uranium particles in environmental samples for nuclear safeguards. However, the analysis requires prior identification of a small number of uranium particles that coexist with a large number of other particles without uranium. In the present study, this identification was performed by scanning electron microscopy -energy dispersive X-ray analysis with automated particle search mode. The analytical results for an environmental sample taken at a nuclear facility indicated that the observation of backscattered electron images with 1000 magnification was appropriate to efficiently identify uranium particles. Lower magnification (less than 500) made it difficult to detect smaller particles of approximately 1 m diameter.